​Denmark invests $75mn in offensive cyber division – report

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) has stated its readiness to launch cyberattacks against hostile states and organizations, according to Politiken daily. Over the next 2 years some $75 million will be invested in an “offensive” cyber division.

By 2017 Denmark will
pour some 465 million kroner ($75 million) into developing an
offensive cyber-attack capability, according to the report. This is apparently so that Denmark
can expand its capabilities from focusing solely on defending
itself against hacker attacks, to also attacking hostile
targets.

The idea is being developed in the wake of attacks over past
several years which allegedly targeted the country’s defense and
business sector for sensitive information. Since 2012 at least
four Danish companies have reportedly been targeted in
“incredibly” sophisticated, “state-sponsored”
attacks blamed on the usual suspect, China, according to the
report from FE.

While an offensive cyberattack should typically be conducted in
secrecy in order to surprise the target, some experts have
suggested it must be viewed in the same light as a military
operation, meaning it would need an authorization from the
parliament.

“When we go to war, it is parliament that declares war and
the military that carries it out,” Anders Henriksen, an
expert in international law at the University of Copenhagen, told
Politiken.

Professor of constitutional law at the University of Copenhagen,
Jens Elo Rytter, expressed agreement. “The use of force is
such an important thing, according to the constitution there must
be parliamentary inspection and control, when Denmark uses the
power,” Rytter told regional daily Jydske Vestkysten.

However, the Defense ministry believes only those cyberattacks
that would result in physical damage to the target should be
considered warfare and require prior parliamentary approval,
according to Politiken. Using a “hypothetical’ attack on Moscow’s
water supply systems as an example, the publication said that
while it would not destroy computers, management applications or
physical installations, yet could interrupt the supply itself –
it may not have to be subjected to approval.

Launching an attack on foreign state or company without
parliamentary approval would not breach the constitution,
believes the current Defense Minister Nicolai Wammen.

“I am convinced that the constitutional requirement to
include parliament in the given situation can be reconciled with
any concerns in relation to the operation’s implementation and
security,” Wammen told Politiken.